There are some debates than never seem to get settled, but never seem to get old, either: Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James. Michael Jordan vs. Magic Johnson. Ginger vs. MaryAnn on Gilligan’s Island. And, the latest for U.S. soccer fans — Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey?

Who is the best American player right now? Depends whom you ask.

The two U.S. stars had a rare matchup in Friday’s fourth round FA Cup match between Fulham and Everton. Dempsey is Fulham’s scoring machine, with two hat tricks in the past two weeks alone. Donovan is on loan to Everton from the Los Angeles Galaxy, and has been playing very well. Donovan set up both goals in Everton’s 2-0 win over Fulham on Friday.

American fans seem to fall into two camps, the Landon camp and the Clint camp. Landon, they say, is the most famous U.S. player in the world and has done the most for American soccer. Clint supporters point out that he is the most prolific U.S. scorer in English Premier League history, and where better to earn respect than in a league with that kind of tradition?

In fact, former U.S. national team goalkeeper Brad Friedel got in some hot water a few weeks ago when he suggested to the BBC that Donovan had taken the easy way out by plying his trade in Major League Soccer while Dempsey tested his skills against the world’s elite players.

Donovan has scored more goals for the U.S. national team than Dempsey — 46 in 138 matches to 24 in 82 matches. Donovan scored the dramatic goal at the 2010 World Cup that pushed the United States through to the second round. But Dempsey has 15 goals in all competitions for Fulham this season. The only Premier League players with more are Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero, and Arsenal’s Robin van Persie — very expensive and famous company for the kid from Nacogdoches, Texas.

Donovan and Dempsey were teammates on the past two U.S. World Cup teams, and had not faced each other since May 6, 2006, when Dempsey’s New England Revolution beat Donovan’s Galaxy 4-0. Friday’s match was a must-see for American soccer fans.

Truth is, it’s great for U.S. soccer that this debate is going on at all. It means there are two world-class American players competing at the highest level, and that should open the door for other promising Americans in the future.

Donovan or Dempsey? You make the call: vote in The Miami Herald’s poll at http://miamiherald.typepad.com/total_futbol/.

Tevez stays put

The never-ending soap opera that is Carlos Tevez continues, as the disgruntled Argentine forward apparently will not leave Manchester City yet. There were rumors he was headed to PSG in France or AC Milan in Italy, but both deals fell through.

AC Milan signed Argentine forward Maxi Lopez on loan from Catania on Friday. Milan vice president Adriano Galliani had several meetings with Tevez in the past month and the two sides had reportedly reached an agreement, but Manchester City wouldn’t sign off on it..

Tevez has not played for the English club since he refused to warm up during a Champions League game against Bayern Munich in September.

Tevez’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, told reporters his client is willing to wait until the summer to leave England, and he will probably wind up with PSG.

L’Equipe.

Hoax not funny

Bayern Munich fans were not amused with the club’s latest publicity stunt. The team invited fans on its website to go to Facebook to see news about a “spectacular new signing,” and then instructed them to “like” the page to get more Facebook fans. Turned out the new “signing” was actually a new FC Bayern app called “The New FCB Star.”

Fans were so angry, the club issued an apology.

“We’re sorry. But it wasn’t our intention to disappoint you with the new FC Bayern app,” the team said.

“Rather, we wanted to put the focus on you with this action, to show how important each fan is for Bayern Munich.”